Botts to try out with Saints, Buccaneers

Monday

Apr 29, 2013 at 10:48 AMApr 29, 2013 at 2:41 PM

Former TUHS quarterback has several NFL teams interested

Dennis McCallMidway Driller staff writer

Dalton Botts didn't get drafted, but he's still getting his shot at signing with an NFL team.After the annual draft wrapped up on Saturday, teams start looking for players they might sign as free agents.Botts, a former Taft High quarterback who just completed his collegiate career at the University of Miami, has at least two teams interested in him – the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints.He'll be in Tampa Bay Thursday for what appears to be a four-day tryout camp, and the former Wildcat valley champion is scheduled to be at the Saints' training facility the following week."If Tampa Bay likes him and signs him then he probably won't go to New Orleans," his mother, Andrea, said Sunday evening.Seven NFL teams had called Botts prior to the draft, asking him to stay by the phone during the two-day draft period. He didn't get a call then, but the phone rang twice on Sunday.His mom said he's thrilled to have an opportunity to achieve his dream.Andrea Botts said she recently discovered an "I have a dream" paper Dalton wrote when he was in the third grade."It was around the time of Martin Luther King's birthday and his teacher assigned the class to write about their own dream," she said. Dalton's dream that day in his third grade class was to play professional football.It still is.He's scheduled to receive his bachelor's degree in criminal justice on May 10, but if things work out the way he hopes a career in law enforcement might have to wait a while.